Sunday, June 23, 2013

Character Designs from Long Ago


Going through my archives I keep finding drawings I didn't know I had.
Like these peculiar design sheets that bring back a lot of memories.
Way back I was on the original crew for Oliver & Company. The idea of replacing some of the original human characters with animals sounded very appealing to me. I did a first pass on most of the main characters, including Fagin, before story work was put on hold. I eventually left the project to work on Roger Rabbit.
This is a small street gang made up of cats and dogs who would eventually run into the kitten Oliver.



At one point Michael Eisner wanted the animation department to pursue the idea of turning the book The Catcher in the Rye into a film. I only worked briefly on the project before it was cancelled.
I do remember the main character being a dog. These drawings show the old sailor  Ol' Joe, no idea how he fit into the story back then.



I did this design of the Gorilla Bouncer from the Ink & Paint Club in Roger Rabbit in a hurry.
The footage was ready to get animated, but we didn't have a final model on him yet.
Dick Williams asked me to come up with something quickly, we faxed the sketch to Robert Zemeckis , and within ten minutes he gave his approval from the US. Once in a while things have to move fast even in animation. 


20 comments:

  1. I like the tattered look of the cats and dogs! I wish more of that could have been incorporated in the film. Fagin looks that way in the film, but the animals, not so much, although they're brilliantly drawn and animated.

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    1. That would've been nice, we do get a bandanna on Dodger and a headband on the chihuahua. It certainly could've gone there like Scat Cat and his crew in The Aristocats.

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  2. WOW. Your designs of the dogs were much more rustic and scary than what ended up in "Oliver". They scare me!!!

    But I ADORE your drawing of Mongo and Valiant! So hilarious, Andreas!!

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  3. These dogs and cats designs are brilliant, Andreas! So great.
    That's how they should look like in Oliver and Co.

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  4. -B-
    After Mushka project you should make animation short with those kind of cats and dogs characters, to keep legacy and make as all happy!
    -Amir

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  5. You are a genius! One question, did you use magic markers or water color. Thank you so much for sharing your work

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    1. There were all done with ink and marker.
      These days I prefer watercolor and color pancils.

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  6. Thanks for showing us all these! :D

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  7. Outfit of gorilla is just perfect! :D

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  8. LOVE the cats an dogs sketch, it's BEAUTIFUL!

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  9. Wow
    Do you keep all your work? I hope you do

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    1. The animator's rough animation drawings from my generation are property of Disney, they are kept and archived there.
      I just held on to odd pieces here and there.

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  10. All these sketches are awesome! Love the cats and dogs' ragged but earnest quality.

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  11. I'm interested about the Catcher in the Rye idea it sounds fascinating

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  12. What a rag-tag team of cats and dogs! Oliver and Company has to be one of my absolute favourite Disney films of all time... I had NO idea you were involved in it, and I'm pleasantly surprised to see your perspective of it. I heard it was an awful film to work on though... I would have jumped over to Roger Rabbit too had I been around.

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  13. Ah, Disney back then and the head games the office would play with the films...

    AHA! I knew Einstein's wrists looked like your design... I'm horrible at identifying character designers, all I've managed to come up with on that film is that Sykes was Keane and Fagin was probably Gabriel. Judging by Tito's hair, did you design him? ^^

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    1. I did a rough pass on most dogs, and Oliver, too.
      Fagin is also my design, but I didn't do any animation with him.

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  14. First, these drawings are beautiful.
    Also, the idea of having Catcher in the Rye adapted into an animated movie strikes me as very odd. With a dog as Holden? I really would like to know more about that cancelled project, if you don't mind.
    Odd as the movie idea seems, Ol' Joe looks great.

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